Apple employees taken by surprise at sudden departure.

The sudden departure of iOS Software head Scott Forstall—along with Apple's retail head John Browett—sent shockwaves through the Apple community late Monday. But it wasn't just us outsiders who were surprised by the news—engineers within Apple were also reportedly surprised by the apparent firing of such an important figure. While Apple is keeping its lips sealed over exactly what happened, details have begun to leak out about why Forstall was shown the door, painting a picture of strife among Apple's top executives.

The first is a Wall Street Journal report claiming Forstall was asked to leave because he refused to sign Apple's public apology letter for iOS 6 Maps in September. Forstall reportedly felt an apology wasn't necessary and chose not to participate in the decision to acknowledge Maps' problems to the public, leaving Apple CEO Tim Cook to sign his own name to the letter. Forstall, known by many to have a "strong-headed" personality, also reportedly told people that there was no "decider" within Apple after Steve Jobs' death. Sources claim he sent an e-mail to the iOS team in order to chide them for not coming up with big enough ideas.

Other reports touch on "tensions" between Forstall and other Apple executives. The New York Times mentioned that Forstall had been clashing with other executives "for some time" before the Maps apology letter—specifically, he had clashed heavily with Apple's head designer Jonathan Ive. "[T]he relationship between Mr. Forstall and Mr. Ive had soured to a point that the two executives would not sit in the same meeting room together," the Times wrote.

This report was echoed by CNN's Fortune: "It is being said that Forstall didn't get along with Jony Ive. The knighted designer won that battle." As pointed out by John Gruber, this was foreshadowed by an interview with Ive earlier this year, wherein Ive "winced" when asked about the stitched leather interface on some iOS and OS X applications. At the time, Ive gave a statement saying, "In terms of those elements you're talking about, I'm not really connected to that."

But Forstall's clashes went beyond Ive, too. "A senior Apple employee who asked not to be named said Mr. Forstall had also incurred the ire of other executives after inserting himself into product development that went beyond his role at the company," the Times said. "One person in touch with Apple executives said the mood of people at the company was largely positive about Mr. Forstall’s departure."

This is a sentiment echoed by our own sources, who had unpublishable things to say about Forstall—they generally seemed relieved at the news. The same with GigaOm: "Forstall’s firing was met with a sense of quiet jubilation, especially among people who worked in the engineering groups. Or as one of my sources quipped: there are a lot of people going for celebratory drinks, even if there is a little bit of doubt about their roles in the future."

GigaOm offers a few more details as well, including the fact that engineering teams seemed to be "caught off guard" by the Forstall announcement. This is in contrast with engineering head Bob Mansfield's retirement in June (which has since been tweaked slightly to allow him to stay on board)—Mansfield's resignation was reportedly "masterfully planned," while Forstall's departure was swiftly executed.

As for Browett, his not-even-a-year stint at Apple has come to a less surprising end. We'll have more on what went wrong with Browett, but the general public reaction to his firing has been more muted.

Jacqui Cheng
Jacqui is an Editor at Large at Ars Technica, where she has spent the last eight years writing about Apple culture, gadgets, social networking, privacy, and more. Emailjacqui@arstechnica.com//Twitter@eJacqui

I'm also excited about the possibility of a new direction for the iOS UI. I still like the UI on my iOS 4 iPhone 3G, but when I upgrade i'd like to look forward to something a little more exciting than Notification Center and Multitasking.

Have you used OS X in the last 13 years or iOS in the last 5 years? The interface is still the same, what has changed the most, however has been the core stuff underneath the UI (unless you like or want Ribbons as a UI advancement on OS X or iOS).

I understand Scott Forstall was the driving force behind the core of OS X being used on the iPhone, imagine if it had been Linux like the other completing team at Apple wanted, if Apple had used Linux, the iPhone and iPad would have been forked by Google like Amazon and Samsung are doing to Android.

Maybe now iOS can take the "authentic digital" route of Android 4.0 and Windows Phone. No earlier then iOS 8 though since iOS 7 is already under development. More likely iOS 9 because remaking the UI into dynamic tiles/widgets will take Apple at least 2 years.

Forstall had Jobs to buffer him with the rest of the execs. Once Jobs was gone there was no buffer.

I am really excited about the shake up. I think Ives will does great things as the software AND hardware HI designer.

iOS has kind of been blah the last few releases. I am hoping he can rejuvenate it.

From what I heard, Forstall is a genius with software engineering- he's the one that managed the conversion of Mac OS X into a mobile touchscreen OS within a short period of time.

But with strong people comes strong personalities-- it takes someone with an even stronger personality (such as Jobs) to keep them in line.

Most people don't remember Apple before Next, and OS X, Apple was going nowhere fast, Ive maybe able to sketch something up quickly but it won't be programing. Forstall was in charge of the core iOS elements underneath the UI.

Strong personalities isn't that one of the reasons, Apple out executed the competition over the last 15-20 years. Being lovey dovey and dumb tech wise didn't help John Sculley, or Gil Amelio.

Maybe now iOS can take the "authentic digital" route of Android 4.0 and Windows Phone. No earlier then iOS 8 though since iOS 7 is already under development. More likely iOS 9 because remaking the UI into dynamic tiles/widgets will take Apple at least 2 years.

You mean not make a profit in mobile like those two companies Ha..Ha..

"Sources claim he sent an e-mail to the iOS team in order to chide them for not coming up with big enough ideas."

All those down votes I got yesterday for saying Forstall didn't push the platform forward and only stole ideas from Android and the jailbreakers. Yeah....wouldn't surprise me that someone as slimy as he is would chide other people for his creative failings. Good riddance.

The OS should be transparent in the sense that it lets the content and/or workflow take center stage.

The same goes for technology. The technology, specs and under the hood workings of the device should be transparent in the sense that the user can focus on the content and/or workflow at hand.

Skeuomorphic embellishment of applications or even a dizzying array of florescent colors only detracts from the content and UI.

Skeuomorphism in itself is no bad thing because done properly, it allows for much faster learning curves and easier discovery of features. There is plenty of skeuomorphism in iOS and OSX that works fine and probably doesn't need to change but it has been rather overused, particularly in apps like the Calendar which is just hideous.

It doesn't need to go entirely but a more pared down, cleaner UI across the board would be welcome. Those applications that are heavily skeuomorphic don't really fit in with the Apple design aesthetic IMHO and need to be changed.

The OS should be transparent in the sense that it lets the content and/or workflow take center stage.

The same goes for technology. The technology, specs and under the hood workings of the device should be transparent in the sense that the user can focus on the content and/or workflow at hand.

Skeuomorphic embellishment of applications or even a dizzying array of florescent colors only detracts from the content and UI.

Skeuomorphism in itself is no bad thing because done properly, it allows for much faster learning curves and easier discovery of features. There is plenty of skeuomorphism in iOS and OSX that works fine and probably doesn't need to change but it has been rather overused, particularly in apps like the Calendar which is just hideous.

It doesn't need to go entirely but a more pared down, cleaner UI across the board would be welcome. Those applications that are heavily skeuomorphic don't really fit in with the Apple design aesthetic IMHO and need to be changed.

Name me the skeuomorphism in iOS that is helpful. Just one example will do.

I don't hate this Skeuomorphic thingy if done right. And I think most of the time at Apple it was done right. i have no problem with the game center, note, calender. I notice there are torn pieces images on both note and calendar, and I think it add "familiarity" to it.

It has been mentioned somewhere that this familiarity allow iphone to be operated without the need of a manual.

I don't know much about whose idea on map planning is and who actually screws up. I mean, they have another year of licensing with google, am i right?

Maybe Forestall was right, there is no decider, and Maps shouldn't have gone out early.

Wasn't there similar quiet jubilation at Apple when Jobs left in 1985? Not that Forstall is as vital as SJ was to Apple's success, but the 'mad genius' types tend to have strong personalities, to put it mildly.

I have no idea if he's as valuable as Steve Jobs, but the reality is that companies usually need a**holes with great vision to produce great products. Those are the guys that won't back down when it comes to what they think is best for the product, and will work teams long hours over minor details to get it right. Those guys are very valuable, but will never be loved.

The mark of a great leader is being able to have that vision and inspire teams to that level of performance WITHOUT being an a**hole. Those guys are even rarer.

*No idea if Forstall was any of those things, because it's tough to get a balanced picture of a guy from the people that he had to annoy on a regular basis.

Yup, exactly my point. The Pattons of the world were NOT well liked.

Eh... I think it's a little silly to think, that just because Forstall was an asshole like Steve Jobs, he'll become as great as Steve Jobs. It's entirely possible he was as much of a jerk as Jobs, but not as competent (which is probably the case).

Now, I'm fairly sure Forstall was competent (although not Steve-Jobs-competent). But if he had to get fired, it was probably because him being so disliked, and therefore being such a disruption to the company's morale and productivity, outweighed whatever he could offer talent-wise.

I'm just saying, just because a dude is disliked, doesn't mean he's competent. What matters is competence itself. And if a dude's disruption in the workplace is greater than whatever the company can get from his competence, then well... a firing is the appropriate thing to do.

The OS should be transparent in the sense that it lets the content and/or workflow take center stage.

The same goes for technology. The technology, specs and under the hood workings of the device should be transparent in the sense that the user can focus on the content and/or workflow at hand.

Skeuomorphic embellishment of applications or even a dizzying array of florescent colors only detracts from the content and UI.

Skeuomorphism in itself is no bad thing because done properly, it allows for much faster learning curves and easier discovery of features. There is plenty of skeuomorphism in iOS and OSX that works fine and probably doesn't need to change but it has been rather overused, particularly in apps like the Calendar which is just hideous.

It doesn't need to go entirely but a more pared down, cleaner UI across the board would be welcome. Those applications that are heavily skeuomorphic don't really fit in with the Apple design aesthetic IMHO and need to be changed.

Name me the skeuomorphism in iOS that is helpful. Just one example will do.

The OS should be transparent in the sense that it lets the content and/or workflow take center stage.

The same goes for technology. The technology, specs and under the hood workings of the device should be transparent in the sense that the user can focus on the content and/or workflow at hand.

Skeuomorphic embellishment of applications or even a dizzying array of florescent colors only detracts from the content and UI.

Skeuomorphism in itself is no bad thing because done properly, it allows for much faster learning curves and easier discovery of features. There is plenty of skeuomorphism in iOS and OSX that works fine and probably doesn't need to change but it has been rather overused, particularly in apps like the Calendar which is just hideous.

It doesn't need to go entirely but a more pared down, cleaner UI across the board would be welcome. Those applications that are heavily skeuomorphic don't really fit in with the Apple design aesthetic IMHO and need to be changed.

Name me the skeuomorphism in iOS that is helpful. Just one example will do.

Forestall just seems to think way to much of himself. However, he was obviously a valuable member of Apple's team through some insanely successful years. Being able to manage difficult personalities and tolerate them so you can get the benefits of their talents is part of what has made Apple so successful. If (and this is an "if") they are at a point management-wise that they cannot do this, then a lot of creative tension is being lost and Apple is on a downward slope. It is an odd thing that someone as reviled as Jobs would be so missed...but there you go. If success on the level that Apple has had it was easy then everyone would would be copying their blueprint. The problem is that it is more art than science.

There has been such a contrast between apples hardware and software design as of late.

Hardware is focused, not having any detail unless its essential. It's also innovative and awesome, the software has silly skeuomorphic features which totally contradict the hardware design language. Bits of ripped paper on the calendar for example, not only totally pointless, but hideous!

Snow leopard had an awesome UI, much more Ive like. I am really excited to see where 10.9 and ios 7 goes with this change!

Mixed feelings about Forstall's departure. I think he was willing to risk visionary thinking, something I feel is not as appreciated under Cook's administration. On the other hand, he apparently is obsessed with skeumorphic design, which I think should die in a fire.

Skeuomorphic design can be done well and it can be done poorly.

Finder is the ultimate skeuomorphic app. It takes computer files and converts them to little pieces of paper and folders on a flat surface meant to represent the top of a desk. It also includes a little icon representing your filing cabinet. Its release heralded a revolution in how we interact with computers. Would billions of people be using the internet every day if all we had were command line interfaces?

The iOS team, and OS X team that followed them, took good apps and redesigned them to look more "real", but in the process they threw away the UI paradigms that made them useful in the first place. I don't think people would have been nearly as upset by stitched leather if it hadn't gotten in the way of usability.

I have confidence that Jony Ive will restore usability as a defining feature of Apple software. I'm expecting great things in 2014.

Alexander the Great was well liked by his men, mostly because he lead from the front lines.

Do you have any source for that statement?

I've read lots about him. Which part are you not sure about? That he lead from the front lines? Or that his men would follow him to hell and back? I suppose one thing that he had going for him was that he was undefeated in battle. People have a tendency to appreciate that sort of thing. Alexander was known for leaping into battle whenever he felt his side wasn't aggressive enough. The sight of him doing so typically freaked out his own men to the point where they would also leap into rather dangerous situations. That's quite the contrast from, say, the Persian war machine that held it's best fighters behind the front lines, so as to ensure the front line troops, mostly conscripts, wouldn't defect. Persian kings were always a safe distance away from the battle.

Although, it should be stated that leaders leading from the front lines was normal for ancient Greek warriors, so in that sense Alexander wasn't all that unique. Quite often battles between the ancient Greek city states would end abruptly when one king killed the other king, and everyone else just packed their things and went home.

Alexander the Great was well liked by his men, mostly because he lead from the front lines.

Do you have any source for that statement?

I've read lots about him. Which part are you not sure about? That he lead from the front lines? Or that his men would follow him to hell and back? I suppose one thing that he had going for him was that he was undefeated in battle. People have a tendency to appreciate that sort of thing. Alexander was known for leaping into battle whenever he felt his side wasn't aggressive enough. The sight of him doing so typically freaked out his own men to the point where they would also leap into rather dangerous situations. That's quite the contrast from, say, the Persian war machine that held it's best fighters behind the front lines, so as to ensure the front line troops, mostly conscripts, wouldn't defect. Persian kings were always a safe distance away from the battle.

That kind of thing may inspire respect, but I say his men’s desire to follow him came from a lot more. He personally made sure the dead were properly buried after each battle (even Persian commanders and any Greek mercenaries who had fought for the Persians). He visited the wounded, asked about how they “got it” and listened. Between Granicus and Issus he gave the married men leave to spend the winter with their wives in Macedonia. That kind of stuff buys loyalty (along with winning and providing mountains of loot).

Even with all this he had to face down a few near mutinies and killed a couple of his own generals in drunken arguments.

It's well been previously reported that Scott was highly political, taking credit for success and distancing himself from failures. The "no apology for maps" would be evidence of that mindset. If you're going to play that game, it's hard to "always beat the market". Truth be told, he shouldn't have battled so many execs inside. Least of all Tim Cooks - his own boss. Lesson: Playing politics with your boss is a losing game.

He can now go sell his "high-margin" accessories somewhere else, as far as I'm concerned.

I thought Apple was the master of "high-margin" accessories? They sell a $20 Lightning-USB cable and a $30 Lightning-30pin adapter after all.

True to a point, but they don't shove "would you like some insurance with Monster cables, this neoprene case cover and a screen cleaner" spiel into your face when all you came in to buy was an iPad.

They flog AppleCare hard enough. In Australia we have a thing called a statutory warranty and strong consumer laws to back it up. We don't need to purchase extra warranty. The only benefit most people will get out of AppleCare is the extension of phone support from the complimentary 90 free days. Perhaps Apple should try being more honest about what AppleCare really is.

Mixed feelings about Forstall's departure. I think he was willing to risk visionary thinking, something I feel is not as appreciated under Cook's administration. On the other hand, he apparently is obsessed with skeumorphic design, which I think should die in a fire.

Skeuomorphic design can be done well and it can be done poorly.

Finder is the ultimate skeuomorphic app. It takes computer files and converts them to little pieces of paper and folders on a flat surface meant to represent the top of a desk. It also includes a little icon representing your filing cabinet. Its release heralded a revolution in how we interact with computers. Would billions of people be using the internet every day if all we had were command line interfaces?

The iOS team, and OS X team that followed them, took good apps and redesigned them to look more "real", but in the process they threw away the UI paradigms that made them useful in the first place. I don't think people would have been nearly as upset by stitched leather if it hadn't gotten in the way of usability.

I have confidence that Jony Ive will restore usability as a defining feature of Apple software. I'm expecting great things in 2014.

Skeumorphism is great for transition. I get that it can help familiarize people with functions that have analogs to real worlds. That said, it should not be a permanent design language. The Notes and Calendar apps in iOS/OSX are examples of skeumorphic design that has well-outlasted their utility as a transitional design language.

Both of those concepts are much better-served by leveraging the digital age and what that represents. Take for example OneNote. In its current format, it is fundamentally a note taking app, but it leverages much greater functionality because it doesn't behave like it has to imitate a notebook. Granted, it still has some elements of skeumorphism (like calling things notebooks), but the app has consistently moved further away from them as it leverages more digital-age functionality with no real analog in the paper world.

As a whole, I'm a much bigger fan of the Windows Phone take. A near-total expunging of all things skeumorphic in favor of leveraging the true advantages of being a touch-oriented computer in your pocket that is virtually-always connected to the internet.

He can now go sell his "high-margin" accessories somewhere else, as far as I'm concerned.

I thought Apple was the master of "high-margin" accessories? They sell a $20 Lightning-USB cable and a $30 Lightning-30pin adapter after all.

True to a point, but they don't shove "would you like some insurance with Monster cables, this neoprene case cover and a screen cleaner" spiel into your face when all you came in to buy was an iPad.

God that's so true, I picked up a nice Samsung plasma the other day from PC World here in the UK, great price but I had to go through all of that just to get it out of the store. All I kept thinking as I stood their waiting and waiting was "I wish Apple sold these".

Tim Cook is an MBA, he may be a Jobs placement as an occupant of the hot-seat, but he is an MBA nevertheless. And we all know what these MBA types' core competencies are, that's that.

Don't be such a narrow-minded cretin. While MBA's might be much maligned, and in some cases justifiably, Cook isn't defined by his MBA, he's defined by creating one of the most cost-efficient and ruthless supply chains in the modern world.

Not quite - he copied Michael Dell (who began working with Foxconn in the 80s). But unlike Dell and everybody else who copied him, he kept profits up while the others started a race to the bottom. And the reason that worked was because of the products.

Wasn't there similar quiet jubilation at Apple when Jobs left in 1985? Not that Forstall is as vital as SJ was to Apple's success, but the 'mad genius' types tend to have strong personalities, to put it mildly.

I have no idea if he's as valuable as Steve Jobs, but the reality is that companies usually need a**holes with great vision to produce great products. Those are the guys that won't back down when it comes to what they think is best for the product, and will work teams long hours over minor details to get it right. Those guys are very valuable, but will never be loved.

The mark of a great leader is being able to have that vision and inspire teams to that level of performance WITHOUT being an a**hole. Those guys are even rarer.

*No idea if Forstall was any of those things, because it's tough to get a balanced picture of a guy from the people that he had to annoy on a regular basis.

Very true, but judging by the myriad of non-working and irritating minor details in OS X and iOS (e.g. slow shutdowns in 10.8.2, iTunes repeatedly asking for AppleID password, iMessage/Facetime stopping working randomly, the crappy autocorrect/typing in iOS (compared to Android)) in the last 12-18 months it is clear that there is no-one at Apple who is driving teams to work long hours so that things just work!